


Ten Silk Scarves

by Avasti



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: M/M, My First Fanfic, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-25
Updated: 2017-06-25
Packaged: 2018-11-18 16:10:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11294160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Avasti/pseuds/Avasti
Summary: Dorian mentions ten silk scarves and peaks the Inquisitor's interest, however, the poor Inquisitor is a busy busy man.***ABANDONED! I'M TRYING TO FIND MY INSPIRATION AGAIN BUT I'M COMING UP EMPTY***





	Ten Silk Scarves

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first public fiction and I'm still unsure where to bring this next. I would LOVE any advice or constructive criticism given! Thanks guys, hope you enjoy it

Dorian was already drunk, Aiden could tell. He was leaning against a ridiculous Orlesian lion statue, thoughtfully pondering the spicy punch in his glass.

Aiden walked up “Enjoying the party?” He allowed himself to relax, they had resolved the assassination with little to no bloodshed and he was given some free time before the long journey back to Skyhold.

Dorian looked at him, eyes not quite focusing “The spicy punch is as strong as it seemed....”

The Inquisitor rolled his eyes “Didn’t I tell you not to get too drunk?”

“Yes, well… the constant glares from Orlesian nobles are easier to accommodate when inebriated.”

They stood in comfortable silence for a few moments, appreciating the lack of excitement when they heard a collective gasp from the ballroom. Aiden barely reacted “Leliana did mention that blind masquerades are all the rage. They still feign shock when the lights go out, however…”

Dorian peered into his nearly empty glass and spoke softly “Find me ten silk scarves and I’ll show you something that will really shock them…”

Aiden was speechless for a moment, then leaned forward “Wait, are you serious…?”

Dorian flashed a pearly grin “For you Amatus, always.”

After a few nights in feathery beds and meals of ham that consistently tasted like the end of the world, the Inquisition started its lengthy trip back to Skyhold. The voyage was uneventful, causing restlessness in Aiden and room for pranks and admittedly foolish games. At one point Aiden and Sera had a competition to see which could get an arrow between Bull’s horns. It ended with Aiden falling off his horse, laughing so hard tears came to his eyes and Sera running desperately through the troops attempting to outrun an angry Bull with an arrow sticking from his left horn.

The nights were spent with Dorian in his simple tent, however, he refused to do anything but talk and sleep. Didn’t want to give the troops more to gossip about. He also chose to keep his sleeping arrangements as modest as possible, he believed he deserved no more than a simple soldier. Cullen and Josephine frowned on his insistence but Leliana seemed to appreciate the modesty. Occasionally during the guts of the night when Aiden got up after failing to sleep in his lover’s arms, he could hear Leliana singing softly by her fire. When she heard movement she would stop, but he enjoyed the little he heard.

The return to Skyhold was exultant, the entire populus swarmed the gates eagerly awaiting news and stories of how the great Herald saved the empress and restored peace. They would eventually be shocked to find that Aiden had actually secured a three way alliance between Celene, Gaspard, and Briala. Stories would puff off about how he seduced the Duchess and she had given herself to the Inquisition before any blood could be shed. It was not far from the truth, and they didn’t bother attempting to correct them.  
Aiden was hoping to steal away, grab a few of his companions and travel to Val Royeaux to find a scarf dealer, but his work never seemed to be done. First it was speaking with the Revered Mother, then he needed to judge the Duchess, almost immediately after Josephine had him seated in the great hall to make nice with a gaggle of nobles looking around like a bunch of tourists at presentation on restorative properties of Bogfisher saliva. He despised their looks of distaste but played nice while Josephine gracefully did the talking. Leliana seemed to sense his discomfort and pulled him from the table to see to another issue with their scouts near Crestwood. She was blessedly quick but handed him off to Cullen who spent the best part of an hour explaining troop movements to the east. Aiden was about ready to resign when Cullen had finally finished, he decided to cut his immediate duties and visit his friends.

His usual route was counter-clockwise, always leaving Dorian last to distract him for the rest of the night. He started with Solas and as usual the elf spoke in rhymes and nonsensical references to the fade, despite the riddles, Aiden loved hearing about the history Solas discovered. He then visited Varric and played a few hands of Wicked Grace, and losing, before he stopped by Cassandra to chat about the new book Varric gave her. She allowed Aiden to borrow the first, and he admitted only to her how much he truly enjoyed them. Bull interrupted them with a hard shove to Aiden that ended in a brawl that had the ever graceful Inquisitor covered in mud and pinned beneath a massive Qunari. Allowing dignity to reassert itself, Aiden visited Cole, who requested help finding an amulet. Aiden could never say no to Cole, the young man seemed too innocent and pure, but Aiden knew better. He had seen that innocent and pure kid slice down a group of venatori without so much as blinking and didn’t desire to be on the other side of the spirit.  
Aiden, now growing weary, marched his way to Sera and sat with her on the roof. He thought ahead this time and brought tiny cakes from the kitchens, which Sera seemed to enjoy, claiming they had better leverage for chucking at people. After Aiden nailed a noble on the back of the head, they called it a night and Aiden escaped to find Blackwall. He didn’t enjoy visiting Blackwall as much as the rest of his Inner Circle, something about him didn’t seem right, especially after the fight at Adamant Fortress. His meeting with Blackwall was short and professional and he left the stables feeling troubled, not helped by the daunting set of steps before him. He muscled his way up to Vivienne, cursing the impracticality of living at the top of the damn castle. He attempted to hide his irritation when she asked him for help retrieving a heart of a wyvern. A Snowy Wyvern no less, which meant he would have to find more troops to explore a new location. He agreed to help her, of course, he admired Vivienne and was willing to help her in an attempt at repayment for all she had done for him.

Struggling to remember all he had promised to do, he slowly worked his way to Dorian. His muscles protested as he walked down the short steps to the library and across to where his Amatus was almost always seated only to find the alcove void of the beautiful altus. Internally pouting, Aiden grabbed a notebook from Dorian’s desk and quickly scrawled a few notes, most to himself but one for Dorian requesting his presence in Aiden’s quarters, and he forced his legs to obey him, walking up to Leliana to figure out if the spymaster knew where his elusive lover had gone and hidden. She had either been sleeping or knew exactly where he was but refused to tell the bedraggled Inquisitor. Aiden had no energy left to argue with her or attempt any mind games so he thanked her and worked his way to his quarters. Not finding Dorian had just cemented his foul mood and he wore it on his face, people who would have normally stopped him avoided him now and made a clear path for him to his chambers.

He stepped inside the stairwell and was taunted by the two flights that stood between him and his bed. He started removing his gear and putting it carefully on the hooks by the door, gently resting his polished longbow on the wall beside him, he took a step towards relief just as the bow fell along the groove of the wood flooring and caught his dominant foot. He yelped with surprise and tumbled to the ground with a loud thump. He rolled to his back and sighed, groping around to his side and finding the sheepskin rug, he pulled it over his shoulder and closed his eyes, too tired to bother getting up.

****

Dorian was meeting with Cullen when Aiden was due to visit him and he was less than thrilled with the Commander, who seemed oblivious to his clipped answers and annoyed sighs. Cullen was trying to devise a new plan to keep the mages safe while keeping cost low and wanted Dorian’s help figuring out the best way. Minutes bled into hours and soon the moon was shining through the gaping hole in Commander Cullen’s living space, pulling him from his fierce focus on clever contraptions to keep the demons from possessing mages and forcing him to look at Dorian, sleeping quietly on a nearby chair.

Cullen was hit with a pang of guilt “Dorian?”

“Yes, Commander, absolutely brilliant…” His words thick with sleep

“Dorian.”

“No, I’m sure it’ll work.”

Cullen shook Dorian’s arm “Dorian!” startling Dorian awake “Wha?!” He was already starting to summon the negative energy he had been studying when Commander’s face came into focus, boasting a barely restrained grin on his face and Dorian had the overwhelming urge to curse that smugly handsome mug of his.

“Fasta vass, you’re damn lucky my reflexes aren’t as raw as the Inquisitor’s else you would have very little to grin about. Are we done here?’ He looked up through the hole to the moon, a small frown of disapproval gracing his features

Cullen nodded “I hadn’t paid any attention to the hour, Dorian, I apologize.”

Dorian shook his head and stood “Another time, then, Commander.” and he took his leave, walking across the long bridge to the castle and up to his small corner of paradise. He saw the note before anything else and was hit with a sharp pang of guilt and longing, and opened the note, smiling at the sloppy scrawl of the Inquisitor

‘Troop movement discussion wit- no. Dorian, I couldn’t find you here and I’m too lazy to search past Leliana. When you get this, join me in my quarters? I think alone time is long overdue.’

Considering the lateness of the hour and how long he had been under Cullen’s hold, Dorian doubted Aiden would be awake and decided he needed his rest. He would find him in the morning and have his way with him. Gently placing the note in the folds of an ancient Tevene spellbook, Dorian stretched out on his cot and fell into a deep sleep.

****

Aiden had just taken his place at the Conclave, politely conversing with obnoxious nobles until Divine Justinia took her place. A glorious hush took over the whole building as the peace talks began. They were your usual peace talks, full of demands and rebuttals and Aiden cared little for the information they were spewing, they convened into separate rooms so the Divine could mull over her options. He was shucked off with a few of his friends and were being served small treats by Elven servants. 

He froze just as he was about to take one “Do you guys hear that?” His friends all shook their heads, frowning at him. But overcome with curiosity, Aiden ventured from the room, soon being able to hear the words clearly.

“Now is the hour of our victory.”

“Why are you doing this? You of all people?”

“Keep the sacrifice still.”

“Someone! Help me!”

Aiden was running, following the sharp crackling sound unmistakably of magic, he burst through the doors to the Conclave “What’s going on here?”

He was suddenly face to face with possibly the ugliest abomination he had ever seen. He’d witnessed his sister get possessed and slaughtered by a Templar but this was nothing in comparison. While the massive deformed creature stared at Aiden in shock, Justinia hit the glowing green orb out of the giant’s claw, towards Aiden, who ran to it and grabbed the orb. He cried out; his hand felt like it was being split in half. Searing pain crawled up his arm and the area around him went white.

 

Aiden’s eyes flew open, startled by a thundering slamming resounding through the hall he was laying in. A blinding light swept across his tired eyes, filling him with a sudden rush of adrenaline, he grabbed his bow and aimed a perfectly knocked arrow at the talking man suddenly at the door, releasing before realizing who the man was.

“Honestly, Amatus, you’ve slept the day away! Just in the early hours Sera managed to start three fights between nobles and Bull put away at least four kegs of Antivan brandy. I don’t know how he does it, and I thought I was a lush-” His run of speech was suddenly cut off, ducking to avoid the arrow now embedding itself into the solid wood door behind him, “Vishante Kaffas! Aiden! It’s me!”

Aiden, still shaking, lowered his bow “Dorian! Maker’s Breath, I’m sorry. I thought…” He shook his head and rubbed at his eyes, attempting to stifle a cavernous yawn.

Dorian finally saw the scene in front of him and let out a short cough of laughter “Why are you on the floor?”

“I tripped…”

“When?”

“Last night. On my bow. I was going to go to bed, I swear.”

Dorian rolled his eyes “And you get mad at me for not using a bed. Honestly, Aiden, let’s get you cleaned up. You smell terrible.”

“I left you a note.”

“Yes, I got it around midnight when the Commander decided to release me.”

“Cullen trapped you?”

“He was questioning me. Come on, stand up.”

Dorian hooked his arms under Aiden’s and hoisted the muscular man to standing “I’ll draw you a bath.” Aiden gave him a very juvenile pout and let himself be dragged to the baths. 

The room was mostly empty, save the workers that cleaned out the massive tubs. Seeing the Inquisitor enter, the scrambled to draw a hot bath for him, making themselves sparse after and putting a sign on the doors requesting privacy for the couple. Dorian left Aiden standing next to the tub and retrieved soap and a few towels “Now, dear Inquisitor, strip.” Aiden flashed him a lazy grin “For you, Dorian? Always.” and started to remove the beige outfit he loved.

Dorian ignored the man and his showy removal of clothing and set the soaps on the tray next to the bath “I’ll be in the library when you’re finally ready.” Aiden stood, absolutely nude, behind Dorian “I don’t think you’re leaving.” and started the tedious removal of the buckles and straps holding the Mage’s outfit together.

Dorian hid a smile, listening to the soft curses of the Inquisitor’s frustration “You know, Aiden, I bathed already this morning. While you were lazily sleeping.” Aiden just responded with a careless grunt. After allowing him to struggle for a few a buckles, he swatted Aiden’s hands away and removed his clothing with ease “Amatus, you really need to get better at that.” Aiden shook his head “You need to wear simpler clothing.” After Dorian had removed everything he didn’t want wet, he slid gracefully into the tub, followed shortly by Aiden.

They sat comfortably still in the warm water for a while before Dorian sat up “Time to get clean.”

Dorian grabbed the vast assortment of scented soaps and lotion from their place by the tub and started working up a lather “Amatus, you could really afford to use better soaps. Nothing good ever comes of smelling poorly.” Aiden graced him with an affronted squint “The darkspawn don’t seem to care if I smell of roses, Dorian.”

Despite his irk, Aiden let Dorian work his magic. Baths with Dorian always felt more like a massage at a posh Orlesean spa than a simple bath in the guts of Skyhold. His hands truly worked magic as he washed the rogue off, working out the knots in his sore muscles. Aiden tried to return the favor, making Dorian groan as he was more focused on the massage than the soap. After the tub was soiled with soap, they both got out and rinsed, then dried themselves.

Dorian turned to Aiden with a guilty smile “Amatus, I got you a new outfit. Those wretched pajamas are an eyesore. I don’t know why Josephine let you keep them.”

Aiden pouted “They’re soft.”

“Yes, well, they make you look homeless.”

“They make me approachable.”

“They stain easily.”

“That’s why I have multiple.” 

Dorian rolled his eyes “Enough arguing.” 

Aiden put on the new outfit. Cloth pants, white leather boots, practical leather vest, white leather gloves, and a comfortable red shirt, complete with a white scarf. As much as he hated to admit it, he did enjoy the security the leather gave him. The dazzling smile Dorian was wearing helped soften the blow as well.

“Amatus, you look remarkable. Plus, if anyone tries to kill you, they’ll have to go through leather too!” 

Aiden snorted and walked out “Thank you, Dorian. Always good know you have my back.”


End file.
